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A Fated & Rainy Day at Petrified Forest National Park & a Lack of Words
By the time I finally got to Petrified Forest National Park, it felt long overdue. The park had been stalking me for years, showing up in the books I was reading, the movies I was watching, the podcasts I was listening to. It was everywhere, jumping around on the edges of my periphery trying to get me to pay attention to it, to actually visit. “Fine,” I said, when I started planning this year’s birthday trip. “I’ll go to Arizona.”
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Me & the Ghosts of Wupatki National Monument
It was the end of the day in Arizona and I was alone. I’d passed the day’s last visitors on the way in, watched them pull out of the parking lot, a little dust kicking up behind them as they faded into the desert. Then, it was just me and the ghosts of Wupatki National Monument. When I visited Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, I spent 15 minutes talking to a volunteer about what it feels like to be there first thing in the morning, to wander through the ruins before the tourists arrive. He talked about the people who used to live there, the ones who built the centuries…
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Day Hiking the South Kaibab Trail at Grand Canyon National Park
The first time I visited the Grand Canyon it was not enough. We were just passing through, quickly, on a time-limited, cross-country road trip. We had hours there, only a few, and we spent our time staring into the canyon, wondering how such an impressive and incredible thing could be real. Later, as we drove to Palm Springs, we talked about going back, about the next time. We both knew we’d be back, both agreed we wanted to go below the rim.
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How to Spend 6 Days National Parking Through Arizona
After the success of last year’s solo trip to New Mexico, I wanted more. I debated a few options, consulting this map and looking for clusters of national parks that would allow me to spend 5-7 days in one or two places while hitting a handful of parks. Mostly, I wanted to go west again and Arizona’s national parks kept popping up in the books I was reading, the shows I was watching and it all started to seem like a sign. So I went to Arizona for my 34th birthday and spent six days scampering from Tucson to Flagstaff and managed to visit seven of the state’s 22 national…
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Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
There’s something special about volcanoes. Each once I’ve visited has left me reeling and feeling. Maybe it’s the power that’s left there, the imprint of destruction left on the earth, the memory of chaos. Whatever it is, I always feel it and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument was no exception. Sunset Crater is the youngest volcano in the San Francisco volcanic field. It likely erupted around 1085 A.D., more than 900 years ago, and vastly changed the landscape. Sunset Crater, a 1,000 foot high cinder cone, took the place of open meadows and forests. Cinders and ash blanketed more than 800 square miles and extensive lava flows extended away from…
